Uta Ranke-Heinemann was a German formerly christian theologian, academic and author. She holds the (nondenominational) chair of History of Religion at University of Essen in Essen, her birthplace. She was also the daughter of the former president of Germany, Gustav Heinemann. Having started as a Catholic theologian, she became the first female professor of Catholic theology in 1970. In 1987 she lost her missio canonica over her rejection of aspects of Catholic dogma, and in 2001 she left the Catholic Church (and Christianity) entirely by publicly rejecting the divine nature of both the Bible and Jesus.